Beginning June 7, Phoenix Art Museum will present an exhibition of Contemporary Forum’s 2016 award-winning artists. Contemporary Forum, a support group of Phoenix Art Museum, presents two significant opportunities for artist recognition each year: the Artists Grants, which encourage emerging contemporary artists, and the Arlene and Morton Scult Contemporary Forum Artist Award, which recognizes a mid-career artist who has demonstrated a sustained degree of excellence. The upcoming exhibition will feature work by the 2016 prize winners that they have created expressly for this exhibition.

“We are pleased to announce this exhibition of important local artists,” said Amada Cruz, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum. “Contemporary Forum is instrumental to the Museum in its efforts to bring the best local, national, and international contemporary artists to our galleries. We are excited to share the work of some of Arizona’s finest emerging and established contemporary artists with our visitors.”

Christine Cassano, Threading Conjecture. Courtesy of the artist.

The Artists Grants foster the creation of contemporary art by encouraging emerging artists working in Arizona. From a pool of applicants who respond to an annual open call, Artists Grant recipients are selected by a jury in a competitive process. Funds for the Artists Grants program are made available through the Nathan Cummings Foundation with matching funds from Contemporary Forum. The 2016 Artists Grants Recipients are David Emitt Adams, Christine Cassano, Bryan David Griffith, Constance McBride, and Mary Meyer.

The 2016 recipient of the Arlene and Morton Scult Contemporary Forum Artist Award is Patricia Sannit, a ceramicist who has been active in Phoenix for more than two decades. This award recognizes a mid-career Arizona artist whose work demonstrates a sustained degree of excellence and commitment to contemporary art. These efforts to recognize and support such artists are made possible through the generous endowment of Mr. and Mrs. Scult.

Courtesy of Patricia Sannit.

Candidates for this award are nominated by current CF members, and a jury selects the winner. The 2016 winner, Sannit is known for her large-scale ceramic installations, as well as for her community-oriented practices and active involvement in the Phoenix art scene. This is the artist’s first solo museum show.

Join Contemporary Forum at Phoenix Art Museum on Wednesday, June 7, to celebrate this exhibition and meet the award-winning artists. Patricia Sannit, the 2016 Arlene and Morton Scult Contemporary Forum Artist Award recipient, will be presenting followed by the announcement of the 2017 winners of the Arlene and Morton Scult Contemporary Forum Artist Award and Artist Grants. This lecture is free and tickets are available at tickets.phxart.org. Seating is limited and RSVP is recommended.

About the Exhibition
The Contemporary Forum Artist Grant Winners and Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Exhibition will be on view from June 7 until September 17 in the Lewis and Anderman Galleries. This exhibition is organized by Phoenix Art Museum through the generosity of Arlene and Morton Scult, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and Contemporary Forum. For more information, please visit http://www.phxart.org/CF2017.

Admission is free for Museum Members; past and present members of the military; Maricopa Community College students, staff, and faculty (with ID); and youth aged 5 and under. Entrance to the exhibition is included in general admission for the general public. During voluntary-donation, free-access times, the exhibition is offered free to the general public. Free-access times include Wednesdays from 3 – 9 pm, the First Fridays of every month from 6 – 10 pm, and the second weekend of each month (Second Saturdays from 10am – 5pm and Second Sundays from Noon – 5pm). For a full breakdown of general admission prices and hours, see http://bit.ly/VisitPhxArt.

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